Issues, Preliminary Results, and System Enhancements Associated with the Remote Storage Monitoring System Installed at a Defense Nuclear Site

An operational “dual use” remote/unattended monitoring system was installed in a Pantex magazine during the summer of 2001 to allow for test and evaluation of technologies that might be applicable in the reduction of domestic physical inventories requirements and possible bi-lateral arms reduction and material control agreements [1]. The system was implemented under the Sandia Component Monitoring Technology Project (CMTP). The CMTP remote/unattended monitoring system is designed for monitoring nuclear weapon fissile component containers stored in vaults or magazines. The specific application described in this paper is the monitored storage of plutonium pits in ALR8 containers, stored in Pantex magazines. This paper will discuss the issues and lessons learned during the installation phase and some preliminary results associated with the test, evaluation, and demonstration phase of the project. A development path associated with the integration of the remote monitoring system data, which is based on the Sandia developed Material Monitoring System (MMS) [2], with the current domestic inventory system (Track Right) [3] is also presented.